Cameroonian journalist detained on criminal defamation and false news charges

Abidjan, June 20, 2019 -- Cameroonian authorities should immediately release journalist Paul Chouta and drop criminal defamation and false news charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 28, in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde, five police officers arrested Chouta, who works as a reporter for the privately owned Cameroon Web news website, in response to a defamation complaint filed by French Cameroonian writer Calixthe Beyala, according to Cameroon Web editor-in-chief Emmanuel Vitus, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app, and a person with knowledge of the case who asked not to be…Read more

Pakistani journalist Muhammad Bilal Khan stabbed to death in Islamabad

Pakistani authorities should swiftly investigate the killing of journalist Muhammad Bilal Khan in Islamabad on 16 June to determine the motive and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. On June 16, unknown individuals attacked Khan, an independent journalist who ran a YouTube channel where he interviewed political figures and talked about religion and politics, and stabbed him to death, according to news reports. The government has vowed to investigate the killing, according to Pakistani English-language newspaper Dawn. "Authorities must quickly launch a credible investigation into the killing of Muhammad Bilal Khan,…Read more

UK Home Secretary gives green light to extradite Julian Assange to the US

  • Posted on June 17, 2019
  • /Under Legal
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is deeply concerned by UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s decision to sign a request by the US to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, giving the court the green light to consider the request. RSF reiterates its call on all relevant authorities to prioritise the protection of the role of journalism, including journalistic sources, in their treatment of Assange. On 13 June, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid signed a request by the United States to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been indicted in the US on 18 charges related to…Read more

Kenyan media group trolled by pro-ruling party activists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns a social media campaign designed to smear and intimidate Kenya’s leading independent, privately-owned media group, Nation Media Group (NMG), and calls on the authorities to identify and sanction those responsible. Thousands of messages with the #NationMediaGarbage hashtag began circulating on Twitter on 6 June to the point that by the next day it was one of Kenya’s ten most shared hashtags. The blitz was launched by a group of activists who make no secret of their support for President Uhuru Kenyatta. According to NMG’s Daily Nation newspaper, around a dozen people are behind…Read more

Ugandan editor charged with criminal libel and ‘offensive communication’

  • Posted on June 17, 2019
  • /Under Legal
Authorities in Uganda should end the criminal proceedings against Pidson Kareire, managing editor of privately owned news website The Drone Media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 12, police in the capital, Kampala, arrested Kareire on charges, filed on April 30, of four counts of criminal libel and four counts of "offensive communication," according to the journalist's lawyer, Daniel Walyemera, who spoke to CPJ, and a charge sheet seen by CPJ. The charges stem from The Drone Media's reporting on a local recruitment firm, Middle East Consultants Limited, according to Walyemera and…Read more
Nigerian journalist Kofi Bartels says police beat him, threatened him with sexual assault

Nigerian journalist Kofi Bartels says police beat him, threatened him with sexual assault

Nigerian authorities must investigate and hold accountable the police officers responsible for allegedly assaulting and threatening journalist Kofi Bartels, the Committee to Protect Journalists have said. On June 5, a group of at least five police officers punched and kicked Bartels, a reporter with the privately owned Nigeria Info radio station, beat him on the knees with pieces of wood, and arrested him for filming them, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ on the phone and posted about the attack on Twitter. At the police station, an officer told Bartels that the…Read more

Journalists assaulted, news vehicle burned at Kenyan high school

Kenyan authorities should thoroughly investigate the attack on a Kenya Television Network news team at a Machakos county high school and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 3, a group of students at St. Steven's Girls High School, a boarding school in Machakos county, and their principal attacked a team of journalists with the privately owned Kenya Television Network, according to news reports and two journalists from the network, who spoke with CPJ. Students kicked, punched, and threw stones at reporter Carolyne Bii, driver Immaculate Joseph, and cameraman…Read more

Police raid Australian Broadcasting Corporation headquarters, seize documents over Afghanistan reports

The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the Australian Federal Police raid on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation headquarters in Sydney today and called on authorities to immediately return any documents or other property seized. In a statement, police said the raid was related to an investigation into the publication of classified material, and was not related to yesterday's raid of Sunday Telegrapheditor Annika Smethurst's home in Canberra. "The raids on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation newsroom and the home of reporter Annika Smethurst are deeply troubling and directly threaten Australia's standing as a country that respects press freedom,"…Read more

Alarming resurgence in Sri Lankan police attacks on Tamil journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Sri Lankan authorities to punish those responsible for recent acts of violence and harassment of journalists and to ensure that the police stop harassing and intimidating reporters covering the problems that the Tamil minority still endure ten years after the end of the civil war. The 27 May violence against Kanapathipillai Kumanan, a journalist working for the Tamil daily Virakesari, was the third reported attack on a journalist of Tamil origin since the start of the year. Kumanan was working on a story about a Hindu temple in the…Read more

Indian journalist Pratap Patra attacked over sand mining investigation

Indian authorities should swiftly investigate the attack on journalist Pratap Patra and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 30, in Odisha state, six unidentified individuals wielding a machete and other sharp objects attacked Patra, a reporter with local news daily Samaja, cutting his head, chest, and hands, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ. He was taken to a local hospital following the attack and released on June 3, according to those reports. Patra told CPJ that he believes he was targeted because of an…Read more